Hans Baur

Hans Baur ( Bavaria , Germany , 19 of June of 1897 – Bavaria , Germany , 17 of February of 1993 ) was a military man who served in the German Imperial Army , was pilot personal aviation Adolf Hitler throughout the period of Nazi Germany .

Biography

Hans Johann Peter Baur was born in Ampfing , Bavaria, Germany, in 1897. His family emigrated to Munich and the young Baur was educated at Ludwigs-Real Schule and at the Ludwig School (now Erasmus Greser Gymnasium).

World War I

In 1914, while doing an internship in a hardware store , the Great War began, Baur volunteered for the German Imperial Army where he was initially rejected for his real short stature.

In September of 1915 he appeared again in the Koeninglish Bayerischen Fliegertruppen (Bavarian Army) where it was accepted for training. He was sent to France where he worked quartermaster and logistics behind the lines. In November of that year he was accepted for a training course of pilots in the fledgling Luftstreitkräfte (German Corps of the Empire) based in Gersthofen-Gablingen in Augsburg , where he qualified for observation pilot and gunner. He performed several reconnaissance missions until he qualified as a fighter pilot in 1918 , where he achieved about 160 combat missions demanding the demolition of 8 airplanes; But only 6 enemy planes were confirmed to him, receiving for its bravery in combat Iron Cross of Second and First Class. 1

Interwar

By restriction imposed in the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to dissolve its air force, Baur then joined the Freikorps 1919 to 1921 where it exerted like postal messenger in Fürth accumulating a great amount of hours of flight. In 1921 he joined the Bayrische Luftlloyd as postal airline pilot air routes between Germany and Switzerland . In 1922 it left the military race and its company was absorbed by the Junkers Luftverkehr where it continued like civil pilot piloting a Junkers F 13 . In 1926 he was enlisted by Lufthansa as a prominent commercial pilot, opening the German-Italian routes. That same year he enrolled in the NSDAP .

In 1931, with almost a million flight hours, he was recommended and assigned as a campaign pilot in the first and second campaigns (1931-1932) of the emerging Nazi politician Adolf Hitler, and in February 1933 he was finally enrolled as the leader’s personal pilot Politician flying the personal airplane of Hitler, Ju-52 Tante given by Hermann Göring , baptized like Inmelman II , plate D-2600 (this same number was maintained for the rest of the personal planes of the Führer) and later the called Fw 200 Condor Inmelman III .

Baur led Hitler to Italy to meet Benito Mussolini , took Chancellor Joachim von Ribbentrop to Moscow for the signing of the Tripartite Pact , or when Hitler moved to Rastenburg . Baur had in these trips the possibility of having personal conversations with the German leader on technical and political aspects gaining his confidence being admitted in his personal circle. For his 40th birthday, Baur was invited to the chancellery and received a Mercedes Benz car gift from Hitler.

In 1934 he was appointed Head of the Regierungsstaffel (Tempranfabrik) based at the Tempelhof aerodrome, and promoted to the rank of Standartenführer (colonel) of the Schutzstaffel (SS) since the Luftwaffe had not yet been created.

As head of Regierungsstaffel , Baur had the responsibility of being available with the aircraft in his charge at all times for Hitler in addition to personally selecting other transport apparatus and pilots to occupy the positions of personal pilot for the airplanes assigned to the high positions of the Third Reich. By 1939, the Regierungsstaffel was renamed Die Fliegerstaffel des Führers (Fiihrer Air Group), it had 8 transport apparatus and Baur’s staff received military training in the Luftwaffe .

World War II

Baur between 1939 and 1941 piloted Hitler’s personal transport planes carrying him from Poland (eastern Prussia) to territories conquered in the Soviet Union . In 1944, the Inmelman III aircraft was destroyed in a bombardment being replaced by a Junkers 290 .

In February of 1945 he was promoted to Gruppenführer SS (general of division SS) and Generalleutnant (General lieutenant ) of the Police.

Baur designed an escape plan for Hitler at a time when Berlin was besieged by the Soviets, whose escape plane was the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch; But Hitler refused and decided to remain in his bunker. Baur remained with the leader despite receiving orders to flee taking his personal secretary, Martin Bormann .

Baur was one of the last people with whom Hitler had a conversation before committing suicide the 30 of April of 1945 . Baur tried to flee on the airplane using an improvised runway; But this was unusable by the falls of the shells, reason why it had to flee on foot with the groups that emerged of the bunker of Hitler.

He was wounded by severely shrapnel in a leg when he left the bunker in a group with Martin Bormann , was captured by the Soviet troops, whose doctor amputated the limb and was taken to Moscow as a prisoner of war being interrogated and tortured in the prison of Butiershka. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and released in 1955 and transferred to France where he was held captive until 1957.

Already released, he wrote a book called Mit Mächtigen zwischen Himmel und Erde which literally translates as “I was the pilot of Hitler-The fate of the world in my hands.”

Baur died in Herrsching , Bavaria , in 1993 for natural causes to his 96 years being buried in Leverkusen. 2